Transplant surgeon sent child porn images from WI children’s hospital, feds say
Years of messages about sex acts with kids and child pornography images were traced back to a transplant surgeon at a Wisconsin hospital, federal officials said.
The IP address of the Kik messaging account under investigation since 2023 was located at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, prosecutors said in a July 15 criminal complaint.
Now, one of the hospital’s transplant surgeons, 46-year-old Calvin Eriksen, is charged with distributing and possessing child pornography, the complaint said.
The doctor is accused of sending child pornography through the Kik messaging app between January and April, the complaint said.
“The allegations in the criminal complaint are deeply disturbing. This doctor has been placed on leave, and his ability to see patients has been suspended while the investigation proceeds. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement,” a spokesperson for the hospital said in a statement.
McClatchy News reached out to Eriksen’s attorney but did not immediately receive a response.
According to online profiles and federal agents, Eriksen worked at a children’s hospital and performed transplants on people of all ages, including infants and kids, court documents said.
In 2023, an undercover agent pretending to be a 29-year-old woman with an 8-year-old daughter in West Palm Beach, Florida, came into contact with Eriksen through Kik, federal officials said.
Eriksen sent messages to the undercover agent in August 2023 asking to perform sex acts with her and her daughter, according to the criminal complaint.
Days after the initial message, Eriksen, who was using a fake name, told the undercover agent that he had a 22-year-old daughter who he wanted to molest, but couldn’t because his wife was a stay-at-home parent, prosecutors said.
The man also discussed traveling to Florida to engage in sex acts with the woman and her child, according to the complaint. Communications between the undercover agent and Eriksen abruptly stopped in December 2023.
In July 2024, the undercover agent came across the Kik user in another group, and he began to send her messages about sex acts with children again, according to federal officials.
He sent the undercover agent photos showing him in medical scrubs, according to investigators. Eriksen also sent the agent nude images and asked that the images be shown to the child, prosecutors said.
The messages stopped that same month because Eriksen’s account was banned from Kik, the complaint said.
Eriksen was arrested on July 15 but was released and ordered not to have contact with any children under the age of 18, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 31.
